Tuesday, September 1, 2015

By George!

Much of my activities this month (see the “teaser”
below) are commemorating the World Premiere of George Gershwin’s folk
opera Porgy and Bess, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this
year. In a couple of weeks, I will be sharing something specific on that opera
on the Tuesday Blog, but this week we dip into the Podcast Vault,
and recycle an all-Gershwin program.

The bulk of the montage provides a series of
adaptations and settings of some of Gershwin’s famous tunes, going from
virtuoso etudes by Earl Wild to jazz adaptations by Benny
Goodman and Miles Davis. The latter, from his Porgy and
Bess concept album, will get further discussion in a couple of weeks.

Two tracks feature Gershwin as a pianist,
both in-person and virtually. According to an article by Jack Gibbons for
Piano Magazine , “by all contemporary accounts
Gershwin’s piano playing was phenomenal; such legendary virtuoso pianists as
Rachmaninov and Josef Hofmann were deeply impressed with the natural ease and
inventiveness of his playing. […]The examples of his playing that have survived
– including some electric recordings, recordings of radio broadcasts, two sound
films, and a considerable number of piano rolls – reveal a youthfulness, a
vigour, a 'pep' which guaranteed to make him the centre of attention at any
social gathering.”

We hear Gershwin play one of his three piano
preludes, and from a vintage piano roll, Gershwin attacks his famous Rhapsody
in Blue at a break-neck pace.

Happy Listening!

ITYWLTMT Montage #79 - In Memoriam -
George Gershwin
(Originally published on Friday, 9 November 2012)